thanks the flowers of the Husker Red are actually white. see pic from last summer. I assume its called Husker "Red" because of the foliage being burgundy when its new...? turning to a dark green as summer goes on...

we use soaker hoses for watering everything but the odd plant here and there. otherwise we'd be out there for hours, literally. might be a good idea for you as well...? just lay the mulch right over top of it.

You can also purchase ant moats for hummingbird feeders, by the way. I ended up doing that rather than trying to cobble something together. It was not expensive at all, and it worked quite well. I had to hunt a little but now that everything and its cousin is online, should be easy to find.